As a bit of a change from fast military launches, I thought a small pleasure steamer was a good idea for the next plan. Variety is next to Godliness, or something...
Actually, this is a development build rather than a completed subject. I tried to stain the balsa with a mixture of stain and sanding sealer, and I'm not sure that it's the right material. Plus, the boat looks as if it won't displace enough. So the final plan might be a bit bigger. But in the meantime, you can see what's happening...
There are only about a dozen parts to the hull. The top deck and the floor will be visible, so I thought I would be clever and stain them. Here are the planking lines being drawn with a black biro, which leaves a perfect indented line....
Use the curved edge of the other deck as a ruler to get each set of top deck lines in the right place...
Once you have drawn the lines, stain the wood a mahoghany colour..
I joined the top decking pieces with white glue stained black - to get a black line matching the rest of the hull.
Then you can start joining the parts. Start with the keel...
When the formers are set, add the front bow ...
Here is a sketch of a simple river/lake pleasure steamer. A small electric motor lives in the dummy boiler, and a miniature radio goes in the cabin....
I sanded and added more varnish at this stage, because it was getting very blotchy. It got worse! Still, this is just a test build...
Then do the deck formers...
..and here it is with the deck added. You can see a paper jig of the motor mount in the middle. Maybe a bit of varnish later will improve the staining..?
